A New Beginning

Chapter 19- An Old-Fashioned Notion

Noelle slammed her fist on the table and slumped back into the chair, swallowing her tears.

Coulson was dead. The Hulk/Dr. Banner was missing. Thor was missing, Natasha Romanoff was unavailable, or so Noelle was told. Communications were down and the Tesseract was also still missing. She glanced around at the only people who were left. Steve, Tony, Maria Hill and Fury.

And Loki was long gone, along with the Scepter.

Fury tossed something drenched in blood at them sitting around the table.

Captain America trading cards.

"Yes, we were going to build an arsenal with the Tesseract," Fury admitted after a long moment of silence. "I never put all my chips on that number though because I was playing something even riskier."

Noelle looked up from her slumped position on the table, amidst her tears. She had no ounce of respect left for Fury. As far as she was concerned, most of this was still his fault.

"And what might that be?" she croaked out.

Fury sighed, and gripped the back of the chair beside her. "There was an idea – Stark knows this– called The Avengers Initiative. The idea was to bring together a group of remarkable people. See if they could become something more. See if they could work together when we needed them to, to fight the battles that we never could. Phil Coulson died still believing in that idea– in heroes."

Suddenly, it all made sense. This was why they were all here. Why Fury had brought them together. It was no coincidence. It was never a coincidence. All of these lost people, these misfits, these broken people had been brought together to find a new purpose. Noelle, Steve, Tony, Dr. Banner... and Thor had just happened to come along for the ride.

Strangely, and almost unwillingly, Noelle felt a shrivel of her anger and resentment towards Fury slip away, replaced with something else.

Gratitude maybe? She couldn't describe it.

He was trying to give her another chance. Although he had not handled it in the best way, that had been all he was trying to do.

Tony stood up from out of his seat, and without another word, he left the room.

"It's an old-fashioned notion," Fury commented quietly, watching him leave.

Noelle moved back from the table slightly. Steve didn't move.

"Why didn't you just tell us Fury?"

He shrugged. "It was an idea, Noelle. The Earth needs protectors, heroes. I'm sure you know by now that she can't save herself. I wanted to put it into the hands of people who were worthy of saving it, of having a second chance."

Noelle played with her hands. "And what makes you think you've found the right people?"

He shrugged. "Just a feeling." With that, Fury and Maria left the room too, leaving Noelle alone with Steve.

His jaw was clenched. He hadn't spoken a word since Coulson's death, nor had he taken his eyes off the bloody trading cards. He sighed.

"Fury should have told us."

Noelle nodded slowly in agreement. He certainly should have, but it didn't matter now did it? Would it have changed anything? Come to think of it, it may have made things worse.

She knew what she would have said in the beginning, had Fury initially approached her saying he wanted her to be part of a team. But now, she wasn't so sure. As differently as she and Fury went about things, and as much as they clashed over problems, he was right about one thing: the Earth needed protection.